AFP, LAHORE, PakistanWith her flashing rings, green-streaked hair and “Hack the patriarchy” laptop stickers, Nighat Dad is a digital warrior. Advocates have denounced pervasive, sometimes deadly violence by men — usually male relatives — against women who break those taboos. Dad formed the Digital Rights Foundation, a think tank tackling digital rights through a gender lens, in 2012, winning her recognition as one of Time magazine’s next-generation leaders in 2015 and a Human Rights Tulip award in 2016. Callers range from celebrities to poor women in deeply conservative areas whose male relatives do not allow them to leave their homes. Now the helpline survives only by the grace of small grants from groups such as the Netherlands-based Digital Defenders Partnership, which supports rights advocates.

Source: Taipei Times March 02, 2020 16:07 UTC